Candy dipping machine



Jan. 19, 1937.

W. A, HORBERG CANDY DIPEING MACHINE Filed Jan. 14, 1955 I 2 Sheets-Sheetl Jan. 19, 1937. w. A. HORBERG CANDY DIPPING' MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Jan. 14, 1955 Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICECANDY DIPPING MACHINE William A. Hon-berg, Winchendon, Mass.

Application January 14, 1935, Serial No. 1,739

3 Claims. (01. 91-4) This invention relates to machines for use thispulley with a second pulley 25 fast to a in making candy and is hereinillustrated as horizontal shaft 21 which is rotatable in bearembodied ina fork dipping machine for coating ings carried by the walls of thekettle, suitable candy centers with melted chocolate or other stuflingboxes 29 being provided to prevent leakcoating material. age of themelted coating material. Any suit- 5 The general object of the inventionis to proable motor, reduction gearing and thermostatic vide a smallcompact machine of simple but control may be employed. Current is ledinto efficient construction in which the clipping pan the machinethrough the cable 26; and switches is supplied continuously with meltedcoating 28, 30 respectively control the flow of electricity materialwhich has been thoroughly agitated. to the motor and to the heat units.10 To this end, the illustrated machine comprises a Fast to the shaft 21and located in the kettle heated kettle for melted coating material, adipis a combined feed member and agitator 3| ping pan through whichcoating material is comprising a cylindrical shell supported by causedto flow from the periphery of a combined spokes and having projectinginwardly from the 16" feeding and agitating roller. And in order toshell a plurality of agitating paddles 33. Refacilitate removal ofsurplus coating material ferring now more particularly to Figures 2 andfrom centers which have been dipped, there is 3, two dipping pans 35, 31are located in the provided, overhanging the pan, a constantlyacupper-portion of the kettle one on each side of tuated vibrator uponwhich the operator may a vertical plane passed through the axis of the aat any time rest the dipping fork. shaft 21; and inasmuch as theconstructions of These and other features of the invention, the twodipping pans are substantially identical, including certain details ofconstruction and only one of them will be described in detail.combinations of parts, will be described as em- The dipping pan 35 has asloping bottom, solid bodied in an illustrated machine and pointed sidewalls and a skeleton rear wall which acts as out in the appended claims.as a strainer to catch any candy centers which 5 Referring tothaaccompanying drawings, may be accidentally dropped from the dippingFigure 1 is an end elevation of a machine in fork into the pan. The panis slightly narrower which the present invention is embodied, than thekettle and is suspended from the tops Figure 2 is a verticallongitudinal section of of the walls of the kettle by bent lugs 39formed a portion of the machine, on the pan. The front orcoating-receiving end 30 Figure 3 is a perspective of a portion of theof the pan is open, except for two narrow plates machine, and 4| whichbridge the spaces between the ends Figure 4. is a detail in perspectiveof a portion of the roller 3| and the adjacent walls of the of thestrainer construction of the rear walls kettle to prevent centers whichmay have been of the dipping pans. accidentally dropped into the panfrom falling 5 Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, the machine throughthese spaces into the kettle. The rear has legs 5 which support a shelf1 and above the end of the pan is spaced from the adjacent wall shelf asubstantially rectangular container 5. of the kettle by a bent lug 43;and the rear Supported in the container is a kettle H for wall of thepan is a skeleton one (Fig. 4) formed 0 melted coating material, thesides and bottom principally of upright spaced runs 45 of a length ofthe kettle being spaced from the sides and of wire which has been drawnthrough properly bottom of the container to provide an air space spacedholes formed respectively in the bottom between the kettle and thecontainer. In the of the pan and in a cross-bar 41. The open spacebetween the bottom of the kettle and the front or receiving end of thepan faces the onbottom of the container are located electric heat comingperiphery of the roller 3| which ro- 45 units l3, and on one wall of thecontainer is tates in the direction indicated by the arrow in mounted abox I5 in'which is located av thermo- Figure 2; and the edge of thebottom of the pan static control mechanism, not shown, for govat itsfront end is located close to said periphery erning the flow of currentto the heat units in so that coating material is caused to flow directlysuch. manner as to maintain the: melted coating from the periphery ofthe roller into the pan, 50 material in the kettle at the desiredtemperaover the bottom thereof and out through the ture. On the shelf 1is mounted an electric skeleton rear wall back into the kettle. Themotor IT and a box I9 containing a speed reroller 3| thus acts both toagitate the melted duction gear mechanism through which a pulley coatingmaterial by means of its paddles 33 2| is driven by the motor. A belt 23connects and-to feed coating material to the dipping pan. 55

After a candy center has been dipped by means of a dipping fork in thecoating material in the pan, it is desirable to shake or vibrate thedipping fork in order to remove surplus coating material from thecenter. To this end, there is provided overhanging the pan a vibratorupon which the dipping fork may be rested. The vibrator takes the formof the horizontal end 48 of a wire of spring-steel which extendsdownward from the operative horizontal end, up over the side wall of thekettle, down to a sharp bend where a small stud 5i is mounted on it, and

flat plate 53 and screw bolts 55. The small stud" 5I is pressed down bythe spring, of the wire.

against the serrated periphery of a disk 57' over the teeth of which thestud drags when the disk is rotated to impart rapid vertical vibrationsto the horizontal end 49 of the wire which over-" hangs the dipping pan.The toothed or serrated cam disk 51 is fast to the same shaft 2'! whichcarries the feeding and agitating roller .3! and is located between oneof the side Walls of the container 9 and the adjacent side wall of thekettle H. As an alternative to the vibrator 49, or in order tofacilitate still further the removal of surplus coating material from adipped center, a horizontal portion 59 of a bent stationary wire isprovided against which the handle of the clipping fork may be struck.,This second wire has its upper portion of inverted U-shape, the lowerends of the wire consisting of two horizontal bends which extend beneatha small plate 6i and are soldered to the plate and to the bottom of thedipping pan 35. l

The other dippingpan N is substantially like the dipping pan 35. It issuspended by lugs 63 from the top of the kettle; its rear wall is askeleton one comprising spaced uprightportions 65 of a long bent wire;and over it extends a vibrator in the form of the horizontal end Bl, ofa bent wire of spring-steel which is mounted like the vibrator wire ofthe other dipping pan and is actuated by a second serrated disk 69which, like the first serrated disk 51 is mounted on the shaft 21, saidseconddisk being located in the space between a side wall of thecontainer and the adjacent side wall of the kettle. The two serrateddisks 5?, 69 are thus located on opposite sides of the kettle H. The pan31, like the pan 35, also has soldered to its bottom and proiectingabove its top a stationary bent wire H against which the handle of thedipping fork may be struck. The dipping pan 3'! has a substantially openfront or receiving end, but. the edge of the bottom of the pan at thisend, while in proximity to the periphery of the feed roll H, is notlocated as close to said periphery as is the front edge of the bottom ofthe pan 35. Instead, it is spaced somewhat from'the periphery of theroller; and, in order to cause melted coating material to be fed intothe pan 31, a curved bafiie plate 13 extends along the front edge of thebottom of the pan 31, said baffle plate having bent ends, one of whichis shown at 15, which are fastened by screw bolts to the side walls.ofthe kettle H, one of said screw bolts being shown at Tl. The pan 3?,like the pan 35, has two narrow spaced plates 79, corresponding to theplates ll of the pan 35, which bridge the spaces between the ends of theroller '3! and the side walls of the kettle. Thus, with the constructionwhich has been described, a certain amount of the melted coatingmaterial carried on the periphery of the roller 3| encounters the bafileplate 13 and flows into the pan 3?, the rest of said coating materialbeing carried beneath the baffle plate and delivered directly to theother pan 35.

In order to confine the heated air to the space between the walls of thecontainer and those of the kettle, and to maintain warm air in contactwith the bottoms and sides of the dipping pans, a cover, herein shown asmade in three sections 8!, 83 and 85, is provided, .saidsections beingmounted for lengthwise sliding movement on the tops of the side walls ofthe container. As best shown in Figure 3, the tops of the side wallsof'the container 9 are bent outwardly at 81 to provide guides to entergrooves formed by reverse bends in the edges of the cover sections. The

place. The end sections 8|, 85 of the cover may he slid into and out ofplace at any time and are provided respectively, as best shown in Figure3, with suitably shaped openings to expose the dipping pans. The ends ofthe end sections 8|, 85 of the cover have reversely bent edges to formgrooves in which are received narrow horizontally extending flanges atthe tops of the end walls of the container 9.

In the operation of the machine the heating units are energized, thecoating material is melted and poured into the kettle, the dipping pansand cover are put in place, and the motor is started. The rotatingroller with its paddles agitates the coating material and feeds itcontinuously to the dipping pans. There is thus provided a simple,compact, comparatively inexpensive machine suitable for the use of smallcandy makers and capable of supplying coating material to two dippingoperators.

It will be noted that the kettle Il may be easily removed whenever it isdesired to clean it or to change the coating material. To this end theshaft 21 (Fig. 1) is rotatably mounted in alined bearings llll carriedby opposite walls of the kettle H, said bearings being provided with thestuffing boxes 29 mentioned above. The hub of the roll 3| is fastened tothe shaft 21 by a set screw I03; and the hubs ofthe disks 5'', B9 arefastened to the shaft by set screws I05, I01. Consequently, when thesethree set screws have been loosened and the belt removed from the pulley25, the shaft 21 may be pulley out. When this has been done, the roll 3|and the disks 59, 61 may be removed, and the kettle lifted out of thecontainer 9. A. collar I09 fastened by a set screw to the right-hand endof the shaft 21 nor mally cooperates with the hub of the diskv 51 tohold the shaft from longitudinal movement It has been stated above indescribing the operation of the machine that the coating material ismelted and poured into the kettle. It should be understood, however,that the melting may be done in the kettle if desired by breaking thecoating material into small pieces, filling the kettle with them,turning on the heat and allowing the machine to stand for a suitableinterval, for example over night, after which the motor may be startedand the machine is ready for use.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A dipping machine for use in coating candy centers comprising akettle for melted coating material, a feed roller in the kettle with itslow.

er portion submerged in the coating material,

mechanism for rotating the roller, two openfrcnt dipping panslocated onopposite sides of a vertical plane passed through the axis of theroller, means for holding one of the dipping pans with its front endfacing the on-coming periphery of the roller and with the front edge ofthe bottom of the pan so close to the periphery of the roller thatcoating material flows directly from the periphery of the roller intothe an, means for holding the other dipping pan with its front endfacing the receding periphery of the roller and spaced farther from saidperiphery than is the front edge of the first-named pan, and means fordirecting a portion of the coating material carried on the periphery ofthe roller into the second pan.

2. A dipping machine for use in coating candy centers comprising akettle for melted coating material, a feed roller in the kettle with itslower portion submerged in the coating material, mechanism for rotatingthe roller, two openfront dipping pans located on opposite sides of avertical plane passed through the axis of the roller, means for holdingone of the dipping pans with its front end facing the on-comingperiphery of the roller and with the front edge of the bottom of the panso close to the periphery of the roller that coating material flowsdirectly from the periphery of the roller into the pan, means forholding the other dipping pan with its front end facing the recedingperiphery of the roller and spaced farther from said periphery than isthe front edge of the first-named pan, and a baffle plate extendingacross the periphery of the roller adjacent to the edge of the bottom ofthe second-named pan for directing a portion of the coating materialcarried by the roller into said second-named pan.

3. A dipping machine for use in coating candy centers, comprising akettle for melted coating material, a feed roller in the kettle with itslower portion submerged in the coating material, mechanism for rotatingthe roller, an open-front dipping pan with its front end facing thereceding periphery of the roller, and a baffle plate so located betweenthe periphery of the roller and the front end of the dipping pan thatcoating material carried on the periphery of said roller is directedinto the clipping pan.

' WILLIAM A. HORBERG.

